Thursday, September 22, 2011

students get their own school in china.. when is our turn???

Returnees' kids to get own school

SHANGHAI is to launch its first school specially designed for overseas returnees' children next year, as part of efforts to attract global talents. The Shanghai High School will run the school from Grade One to Grade 12 in Minhang District. SHS will send its international department's faculties to teach the children using an international curriculum.Currently, many returned professionals have concerns about their children's education in Shanghai.

Most of their children have difficulty catching up with Chinese peers in local schools, because they are usually less able at Chinese after living abroad.

Moreover, they are not accustomed to the competition and discipline in local schools.

One mother surnamed Jiang said her daughter, who attended kindergarten in the US, is unfamiliar with local schools' conventions.

The girl has been scolded by her teacher for clapping her hands and shouting "well-done" to a classmate without permission.

Another parent, Ye Bin, who has studied in Canada, said, "I don't want my boy to be weighed down by the academic burden in local schools and lose his happiness just to win a college diploma."

He plans to send his son to study abroad to avoid China's college entrance exam.

The boy, who attends a bilingual kindergarten, will reach school age next year and Ye wants to send him to an international school.

But most of the 32 local international schools and international departments affiliated to local schools are only open to children from Macau, Taiwan and Hong Kong or foreign children due to limited capacity.

And as many overseas returnees' children were born on the Chinese mainland, they cannot get a place at an international school.

"We have a variety of choices in pre-school education with different types of kindergartens," Ye said.

"But we have few choices for elementary and secondary schools."

Tang Shengchang, SHS principal, told Shanghai Daily the school's international department had to turn away many overseas returnee applicants due to lack of places.

He believed the planned school will be popular among local parents. "Schools for overseas returnees are in great demand," he said.

The school will admit Grade One students next year in a pilot program. It plans to set up four to six classes with up to 25 students in each.

The middle and high school will be launched later.

The new school in Minhang will charge tuition in line with the SHS's international department.